đâm bị thóc trọc bị gạo
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
to be criticized no matter what you do
Literally: stabbing gets rice, poking gets rice
Examples
Anh ấy làm gì cũng bị phê bình, thật là đâm bị thóc trọc bị gạo.He gets criticized no matter what he does, it's like he's damned if he does and damned if he doesn't.
AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)
Sources & notes
Discovered via Nam ngạn chích cẩm (Phạm Quang Sán, 1918; public domain, via vi.wikisource); retrieved 2026-08-01. Source: source ↗ Attested in Nam ngạn chích cẩm (Phạm Quang Sán, 1918). Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-08-01; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “đâm bị thóc trọc bị gạo” mean?
to be criticized no matter what you do Literally: stabbing gets rice, poking gets rice
Is “đâm bị thóc trọc bị gạo” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.